USA Today: Trump's Deficit-Swelling Tax Bill Passes House Vote
Americans could see major changes to Medicaid, food stamps, border security and taxes under a sweeping Republican bill that passed the U.S. House early on May 22. The proposal, which President Donald Trump has dubbed the "big, beautiful bill," would enact Trump's major campaign promises like eliminating taxes on workers' tips and overtime and is likely to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation that will be passed during his second term in the Oval Office. (Beggin, 5/22)

Bloomberg: Tax Bill To Accelerate Medicaid Work Requirements To 2026
House Republicans leaders are planning to accelerate new Medicaid work requirements to December 2026 in a deal with ultra-conservatives on the giant tax bill, according to a lawmaker familiar with the discussions. The revised version of President Donald Trump’s economic package — which party leaders hope to release Wednesday — calls to move up work requirement to December 2026 from 2029, the lawmaker said, who requested anonymity to discuss private talks. (Wasson and Cohrs Zhang, 5/21)

The Hill: House GOP Makes Changes On SALT And Medicaid
House GOP leadership has agreed to a series of last-minute changes to its sweeping tax and spending package designed to win over holdouts. The manager’s amendment includes changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap and proposed Medicaid reforms, along with other proposals, as leadership works to satisfy various factions of the GOP conference to lock down sufficient support to secure its passage. (Folley and Frazin, 5/21)

Politico: House GOP's Medicaid Revisions Aim To Please Hard-Liners
House Republicans made substantial changes to the Medicaid portion of the GOP megabill in amendments unveiled Wednesday night, including accelerating work requirements and paying states not to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act. The proposal will move up the start date of Medicaid work requirements from Jan. 1, 2029, to Dec. 31, 2026, in a concession to conservative hard-liners who have been pushing for deeper cuts to the program. (Leonard, Lee Hill and King, 5/21)

The Hill: GOP Bill Raises Fears Of Major Reduction In Home Care For Seniors, Disabled
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Ca.) said she worries over the future of at-home care for seniors if President Donald Trump’s federal funding package passes in the House. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” proposes cutting billions from social benefit programs, including $800 billion from Medicaid and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Chu called the proposed reduction in Medicaid funding the most “devastating cut to services for seniors in our lifetime” since it will force states to heavily reduce the amount of money they spend on at-home care for older people and people with disabilities. (O’Connell-Domenech, 5/21)

AP: Planned Parenthood Says Barring It From Medicaid Funding Could Have A Major Impact
The group says a provision barring it from receiving Medicaid funds could lead to one-third of its health centers closing. Planned Parenthood said about 200 centers are at risk — most of them in states where abortion is legal. The nation’s largest abortion provider also offers other health services, including birth control and cancer screening. State Medicaid money covers abortion in some states, but not others. (Mulvihill, 5/22)

Fierce Healthcare: Trump Budget Bill Would Modernize HSAs, Prompt Shift To ICHRAs
Not to be lost within a sprawling Republican-backed budget bill are new flexibilities designed to increase usage of heath savings accounts (HSAs), individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) and direct primary care (DPC) arrangements. These changes, wrapped inside a one-sided reconciliation bill, are much less controversial than other provisions to reduce Medicaid spending, drive down enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges and impose a long-term moratorium on artificial intelligence regulations. (Tong, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Support Staff Layoffs Risk Patient Safety
Health systems are cutting support staff as they brace for potential federal funding cuts, a move that could limit hospital capacity and care quality. Providers have laid off thousands of workers over the last several months — predominantly nonclinical employees — as Congress looks to decrease federal spending through potential cuts to National Institutes of Health grants and Medicaid. (Kacik, 5/21)

On Medicare Advantage —

Stat: CMS To Speed Up, Beef Up Medicare Advantage Audits 
President Trump’s federal Medicare agency will expedite audits of Medicare Advantage insurers, a move that could claw back nearly $500 million a year for taxpayers, according to previous federal estimates. However, the audits remain mired in a two-year-old lawsuit initiated by Humana, making it unclear how the Trump administration will implement its new strategy. (Herman, 5/21)

Fierce Healthcare: Senators Reintroduce Bill That Seeks To Reform Prior Authorization In Medicare Advantage
A bipartisan bill aiming to reform prior authorization has been reintroduced in the Senate. The Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act seeks to streamline the prior auth process in Medicare Advantage (MA), which would ease administrative burdens on providers and reduce delays in accessing care for patients. (Minemyer, 5/21)

CNN: FDA Requires Covid Vaccine Makers To Expand Warning About Risk Of Rare Heart Inflammation 
The US Food and Drug Administration will now require Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to use expanded warning labels with more information about the risk of a rare heart condition after vaccination. (Christensen, 5/21)

CNN: FDA Crackdown On Off-Brand Ozempic Products Set To Take Effect, Threatening Supply And Access For Many 
The supply of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss and diabetes treatment is expected to tighten this week with a federal deadline to halt the sale and production of off-brand products that many patients in the United States have come to rely on. (McPhillips, 5/21)

CBS News: FEMA Rescinds Strategic Plan Less Than 2 Weeks Before Hurricane Season
Less than two weeks until the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, Federal Emergency Management Agency acting Administrator David Richardson has rescinded the agency's strategic plan, a comprehensive policy document that outlines the disaster relief agency's priorities. In a short memo sent to FEMA employees on Wednesday and obtained by CBS News, Richardson wrote, "The 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan is hereby rescinded. The Strategic Plan contains goals and objectives that bear no connection to FEMA accomplishing its mission." (Sganga, 5/21)

Health secretary updates —

NPR: RFK Jr. Says That A Lead Poisoning Prevention Team Is Working. Senators Say It's Not
"We have a team in Milwaukee," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified to senators in a hearing on Tuesday. He was speaking about a lead exposure crisis in the public schools there. The city health department had requested support from experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address it. "We're giving laboratory support to the analytics in Milwaukee and we're working with the health department in Milwaukee," Kennedy added. (Simmons-Duffin, 5/21)

Politico: GOP Allies In Farm And Food Are Sweating RFK Jr.’s Big Report
An expected report Thursday from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assessing the causes of chronic disease in children could test whether Republicans in Congress can get along with a health secretary keen on regulating farm and food companies. Republican lawmakers representing agriculture and food manufacturing districts have warned Kennedy to lay off, but they and the industries they represent are still fretting the report. They worry it will point to pesticides and food dyes as potential causes for kids’ diseases and propose regulation that could cut profits and cost jobs. (Paun, Nguyen, Brown and Oprysko, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Sugar Added To RFK Jr.'s Targets In Make America Healthy Agenda
Sugar producers thought they had escaped Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. After all, the health secretary had spent much of his time fighting things like pesticides, seed oils and colorings. If anything, his criticism of high-fructose corn syrup could have benefited sugar consumption. (Peng and Kubzansky, 5/21)

Stat: Three Big Ideas To Actually ‘Make America Healthy Again’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cites a lofty goal as health secretary: “to reverse the chronic disease epidemic in America.” It’s a goal he shares with Americans of all stripes, who have watched the burden of death and disability rise from obesity, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. To better understand the dauntingly complex crisis and how Kennedy could meet the moment, STAT interviewed a broad range of health experts about chronic disease and examined reams of publicly available data, dozens of research papers, and federal health guidance. Our reporting — including extensive novel data analysis — points to several approaches that could reduce illness and death across the population in a relatively short timespan. (Cueto, 5/21)

On funding cuts —

AP: Budget Cuts At Trump EPA Become Flashpoint At A Heated Congressional Hearing
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.’' Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more Americans contracting lung cancer and other illnesses. (Daly, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Research Funding Cuts Create Job Drought For Scientists
US job openings in research and development are plunging as the Trump administration ramps up funding cuts to government agencies, private contractors and universities, leaving some of the nation’s brightest minds scrambling to find work. Scientific research and development job postings are down 18% since President Donald Trump took office in January, compared to a 4% drop in overall vacancies in both the public and private sector, according to a report Thursday from the Indeed Hiring Lab. The decline was broad-based across the science sector, which also impacted data collection jobs and life sciences consulting. (Saraiva and Sasso, 5/22)

The Hill: Universities Struggle To Keep Cancer Research Afloat Amid Trump Funding Cuts
The pause of billions of dollars in research funding to universities has had devastating effects on cancer research as lab work is put on hold and schools are halting the acceptance of new Ph.D. students. The Trump administration’s war with higher education, combined with efforts to reduce government spending by the Department of Government Efficiency, has left significant casualties in cancer research, which in the U.S. is largely done at colleges and universities. (Cochran, 5/21)

The New York Times: Federal Cuts Become ‘All Consuming’ At Harvard’s Public Health School
In a windowless conference room at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health last Thursday, Amanda Spickard, an associate dean, sat with half a dozen colleagues, improvising a plan for the havoc about to unfold. Within a few hours, more than 130 researchers at the graduate school would receive emails canceling the federal funding for their work. No other division of the university relies as heavily on government support, and Ms. Spickard’s team was all too aware that the loss of tens of millions of dollars would end careers, halt progress toward medical breakthroughs and reshape the institution. (Russell, 5/21)

Stat: LGBTQ+ Physicians Sue HHS, NIH Over Grant Cuts 
A group of physicians and researchers working on LGBTQ+ health sued the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday over the sweeping grant terminations that have impacted medical research on queer people as part of the implementation of President Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people and diversity initiatives. (Gaffney, 5/21)

CBS News: AmeriCorps Funding Cuts Threaten Mental Health Program That Serves Colorado Students
Each year since the Spark Health Corps program started in 2022, roughly 10 to 13 associates fill the gap in mental health services that may be absent in underserved schools across the state. As a Title I school, Bryant Webster's principal Brian Clark says they wouldn't otherwise have the budget for a social worker. ... This is a concern that now appears to be settling in for those involved in the program, after Spark Health Corps lost critical funding from AmeriCorps last month amid ongoing federal budget cuts. (Vidal, 5/21)

Stat: At WHO Conference, Global Health Leaders Wrestle With U.S. Cuts
The U.S. has been accused of acting as an 800-pound gorilla on the global stage. Its absence this week from the World Health Organization’s annual meeting of its members cast it as an equally sized specter. (Joseph, 5/21)

CIDRAP: Moderna Pulls Licensing Submission For Combo Flu-COVID Vaccine
Today vaccine maker Moderna announced it voluntarily pulled its licensing submission for the combination seasonal influenza–COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate, mRNA-1083, so that it can submit efficacy data. The news comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration announced that seasonal COVID-19 boosters would now be recommended only for adults ages 65 and older or for those who are at risk for severe COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions. (Soucheray, 5/21)

Stat: MRNA Vaccines Face Senate Scrutiny In A Mix Of Politics And Science 
Messenger RNA vaccines fueled the response to the worst pandemic the world has faced in a century and led to a Nobel Prize. This week, they’re set to face intense scrutiny from critics doubtful of the safety and efficacy of these shots. (Wosen, 5/21)

MedPage Today: These European Countries Give The Chickenpox Vaccine
During a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stopped short of answering whether he would vaccinate his own child against chickenpox. "Again, I don't want to give advice," Kennedy said. "I can tell you, in Europe, they don't use the chickenpox vaccine specifically because the preclinical trial shows that when you inoculate the population for chickenpox, you get shingles in older people, which is more dangerous." While it's true some major European countries have not included the chickenpox, or varicella, vaccine in their childhood immunization schedules, others have. (Henderson, 5/21)

Measles updates —

NBC News: A Surge Of Texas Parents Fought Measles Outbreak By Stepping Up Vaccine Effort
New data from Truveta, a health care and analytics company, shows that the percentage of 6-month-old babies in Texas getting their measles vaccination in April increased by more than 30 times the prior year’s average. “That means parents aren’t just getting the vaccine early, they’re getting it as early as they can,” Nina Masters, a senior scientist at Truveta and part of the research team, said in an interview with NBC News. (Edwards and Murphy, 5/21)

Bloomberg: CVS Vaccine Shots Push Means Bonuses, Drugstore Profits 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is questioning vaccines and the Food and Drug Administration just set a higher bar for Covid booster approvals, but CVS Health Corp. is pushing hard to make sure people get their shots. The pharmacy chain is giving bonuses to some staff whose stores exceed vaccination goals. And earlier this month in Rhode Island, CVS offered some pharmacies an extra incentive — raffling off a pizza party, taco lunch, donuts and ice cream for staff, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News. Another prize is a day off at the beach for the pharmacy manager. (Swetlitz, 5/21)

The Texas Tribune: New Lubbock Parents Fear Measles Spread 
When Kelly Johnson Pirtle was counting down the days to her due date last year, she pictured her future as a new mom. She thought of family visits, friends becoming her village, and a healthy child. She never considered that she might have to shield her newborn son John from a once-eradicated disease. (Carver, 5/22)

The Hill: Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure At Shakira Concert In New Jersey
New Jersey officials warned of “potential exposures” to measles after a new case was identified in a non-state resident who was infectious while attending a Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium last week. The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) issued a statement on Tuesday telling residents “to be aware of the symptoms of this highly contagious virus and to ensure they are up to date with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shots.” (Fortinsky, 5/21)

Regarding covid and flu —

CIDRAP: After Hospitalization For Pneumonia, COVID-19 Patients Report Lasting Symptoms
A multicenter study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases shows significant long-term symptoms among adults hospitalized for pneumonia during acute COVID-19 infection a full year after hospitalization. (Soucheray, 5/21) 

CIDRAP: Risk Of Getting Flu By Touching Contaminated Items Likely Low
An experimental evaluation of the risk of influenza transmission from contaminated objects finds that viable virus was rarely transferred to fingertips from tainted floors, tables, or door levers, even when the viral loads far surpassed those occurring in real life. Expanding on a previous study involving face masks, researchers in Japan assessed the likelihood of flu spread from a floor or table placed within the trajectory of artificial coughs, stainless-steel door levers exposed to simulated coughs, and door levers exposed to a contaminated hand. (Van Beusekom, 5/21)

AP: Texas Lawmakers Advance Bill To Clarify Exceptions To Restrictive Abortion Ban
Texas lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday to clarify medical exceptions under one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S., putting the GOP-backed proposal on the brink of reaching Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The changes would not expand abortion access in Texas or list specific medical exceptions under the state’s near-total ban, which took effect in 2022 and only allows for an abortion to save the life of the mother. It also would not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest. (Lathan, 5/21)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Poised To Completely Ban THC Sales 
The Texas House late Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that would ban all products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, likely spelling the end for the state’s short-lived hemp industry. (Scherer, 5/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Dayton Hospitals Increase Staffing To Support Kettering Health Amid Cyberattack
Hospitals across the Dayton, Ohio, region are stepping in to support Kettering (Ohio) Health, after a May 20 cybersecurity incident disrupted the health system’s electronic systems. Here are four things to know: The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association said in a May 21 news release shared with Becker’s that its member hospitals are coordinating to manage patient care and are increasing staffing at unaffected facilities to handle the higher demand resulting from the incident at Kettering Health, which canceled all elective inpatient and outpatient procedures across its facilities on May 20. (Diaz, 5/21)

CBS News: Fourth Case Of Whooping Cough Reported At Rostraver Elementary School
A fourth case of whooping cough has been reported at Rostraver Elementary in the Belle Vernon Area School District. Belle Vernon Area Superintendent Dr. Timothy Glasspool notified the school community in a letter on Wednesday, saying that the district was notified of the confirmed case by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Three previous cases were reported in late April and early May and Dr. Glasspool says there's no known connection or link between the four students who have tested positive for the illness. (Darnay, 5/22)

In the wake of disasters —

KFF Health News: Volunteers Help Tornado-Hit St. Louis Amid Wait For Federal Aid
As St. Louis deals with more than $1.6 billion in estimated property damage from the May 16 tornado, locals are pouring in to help the hard-hit area of North St. Louis. It’s unclear if residents can count on federal support as they rebuild. (Anthony and Sable-Smith, 5/22)

CBS News: 1 Month After Northern Colorado Oil & Gas Leak, CSU Researchers Share Concerning Level Of Toxins In Air
More than one month after a Chevron oil and gas pad spewed a mixture of oil, gas and water into the sky around Galeton for several days, researchers say the toxins released into the community may be more concerning than initially reported by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Students and staff at Colorado State University say their testing showed a much higher level of toxins, such as benzene, in the air around Galeton than that which CDPHE and other researchers reported to the community. (Thomas, 5/21)

The Guardian: Revealed: UnitedHealth Secretly Paid Nursing Homes To Reduce Hospital Transfers
UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest healthcare conglomerate, has secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help slash hospital transfers for ailing residents – part of a series of cost-cutting tactics that has saved the company millions, but at times risked residents’ health, a Guardian investigation has found. Those secret bonuses have been paid out as part of a UnitedHealth program that stations the company’s own medical teams in nursing homes and pushes them to cut care expenses for residents covered by the insurance giant. (Joseph, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: Sens. Durbin, Duckworth Question Prime Healthcare On Care Issues
Prime Healthcare has received a letter from Illinois U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D) and Tammy Duckworth (D) seeking answers about recent changes in care delivery at several of the system’s hospitals in the state. The Ontario, California-based system acquired the eight hospitals and other facilities from Ascension in March. The letter asks Prime Healthcare CEO Dr. Prem Reddy to respond to questions related to closed service lines across multiple facilities and a drop in trauma designation at one hospital. (DeSilva, 5/21)

Kansas City Star: KC-Based ScriptPro Announces Mass Layoffs Amid Trump Tariffs 
One of Mission’s largest employers announced mass layoffs in the company last week, citing financial concerns and a “challenging environment” brought on by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. ScriptPro, a pharmacy robotics and automation company, sent an email on May 16 to inform employees of the workforce reduction and offered people a voluntary separation package. (O'Connor, 5/21)

KFF Health News: Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming For Call Centers
At one call center in the Philippines, workers help Americans with diabetes or neurological conditions troubleshoot devices that monitor their health. Sometimes they get pressing calls: elderly patients who are alone and experiencing a medical emergency. “That’s not part of the job of our employees or our tech supports,” said Ruth Elio, an occupational nurse who supervised the center’s workers when she spoke with KFF Health News last year. “Still, they’re doing that because it is important.” (Tahir, 5/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanofi To Buy Vigil Neuroscience For About $470 Million
Sanofi said it entered an agreement to acquire Vigil Neuroscience for approximately $470 million, a deal that adds a new investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to the French pharmaceutical company’s pipeline. The transaction would see Sanofi purchase all of Vigil’s outstanding shares for an upfront payment of $8 a share, the companies said Wednesday. Vigil’s shareholders would also receive the right to an additional $2 a share in cash, payable following the first commercial sale of the in-development Alzheimer’s disease treatment, if achieved within a set period. (Hart, 5/21)

In pharmaceutical news —

Modern Healthcare: Cigna's Evernorth Launches Wegovy, Zepbound Copayment Cap
Cigna is rolling out another weight-loss drug initiative to bolster access to the popular medications and tap more deeply into the booming market. The company's Evernorth Health Services subsidiary has launched a pharmacy benefit offering that caps monthly copayments for Wegovy and Zepbound, two blockbuster glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, or GLP-1s, at $200 and counts the spending toward toward annual deductibles, the company announced in a news release Wednesday. (Berryman, 5/21)

CIDRAP: New Cephalosporin Antibiotic For Staph Aureus Bacteremia Available In US
US drugmaker Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics announced today that the novel cephalosporin antibiotic Zevtera (ceftobiprole medocaril sodium for injection) is now commercially available in the United States. ... Company officials say Zevtera offers physicians a new option for treating challenging and potentially deadly infections. Approximately 100,000 cases of SAB occur every year in the United States, with nearly 20,000 deaths. The 90-day mortality rate is roughly 30%. (Dall, 5/21)

Axios: Axios Harris Poll 100: Pharmacy Reputations Drop
With thousands of their brick-and-mortar stores closing and online vendors proliferating, big pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens are seeing their reputations slide, according to the annual Axios Harris Poll 100. (Reed, 5/22)

Axios: Pharmacy Chains Eye Serving Corporations
As retail pharmacy giants like CVS Health and Walgreens look to find their footing, they could find opportunities customizing services to large employers instead of the mass consumer market. (Reed, 5/22)

AP: In Lawsuit Over Teen's Death, Judge Rejects Arguments That AI Chatbots Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself. The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence. (Payne, 5/21)

Newsweek: Gen Z More Likely Than Boomers To Say People In Therapy Are 'Mentally Weak'
Despite often being seen as more progressive, Gen Z is surprisingly more anti-therapy than many of their elders. A new report from BetterHelp reveals a generational divide exists when it comes to the stigma of therapy, and perhaps not in the way you'd expect. Demand for mental health therapy has been skyrocketing in recent years. The number of U.S. adults who received psychotherapy went up from 6.5 percent in 2018 to 8.5 percent in 2021, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry this year. (Blake, 5/21)

New Hampshire Public Radio: After Losing Her Sister, She Now Works To Help Other Moms Take Care Of Their Mental Health
Nearly 16 years ago, Heather Martin lost her sister to suicide. “It happened so fast, about three weeks postpartum,” Martin recalled. “She struggled with what we know now was postpartum psychosis.” As Martin has tried to figure out how this could happen to her sister — who seemed happy and healthy one moment, gone the next — she’s tried to use her family’s experience to prevent others from going through the same. (Liu and Furukawa, 5/21)

In reproductive health news —

The Hill: Wildfire Smoke Exposure Is Harming Pregnant Patients Who Have Limited Access To Health Care: Study
The U.S. health care system is ill-prepared to treat pregnant patients and their infants who have endured the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, a new study finds. Many residents of communities prone to the proliferation of wildfire smoke lack geographic access to the treatments they might need, according to the study, published in the American Public Health Association’s Medical Care journal. “The smoke-plumes generated by wildfires can be transported over large distances and affect nearly every community in the U.S., even those far from fire activity,” the authors stated. (Udasin, 5/21)

CNN: ‘Baby Brain’ Is Real. 3 Things To Know About What’s Happening To Your Brain 
Science has pretty well established that the brain isn’t static; it changes and adapts throughout our lives in response to life events in a process called neuroplasticity. Researchers are discovering this is especially true of female brains, which get remodeled significantly during the three Ps: puberty (as do the brains of adolescent males), pregnancy and perimenopause. (Kane, 5/21)

MedPage Today: Supplementary Contrast Imaging Techniques For Dense Breasts Better Than Ultrasound
Supplementary breast cancer imaging with abbreviated MRI and contrast-enhanced mammography detected more cancers than automated whole-breast ultrasound (ABUS) in women with normal mammograms and dense breast tissue, interim results from a randomized trial in the U.K. showed. (Bassett, 5/21)

CNN: Some Birth Control Users Go Years Without A Period — Is It Safe? 
As social media becomes a hotbed for amateur medical advice and personal anecdotes, posts about getting off the pill and preventing pregnancy through nonhormonal methods rake in thousands of views daily on apps like TikTok. As influencers share their fears about infertility and the possible harms of suppressing your body’s natural processes, reproductive experts say myths and misinformation about hormonal birth control are on the rise. (Griesser, 5/21)

Also —

The New York Times: American Breakfast Cereals Are Becoming Less Healthy, Study Finds
Breakfast cereals, a heavily marketed, highly processed mainstay of the American diet, especially among children, are becoming less healthy, filled with increasing amounts of sugar, fat and sodium, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study also found that cereals’ protein and fiber content — nutrients essential for a healthy diet — have been in decline. (Jacobs, 5/21)

Fortune Well: Food Allergies Are Soaring, And Hundreds Of Moms Are Fed Up With 'Dangerous' Jokes About Them
Following a Saturday Night Live skit that mocked people with peanut allergies, suggesting they should just “take a Benadryl” and shut up, moms of the severely allergic have been speaking out on social media. Such jokes, they say, gaslight people with allergies and contribute to bullying that can turn deadly. “Satire is so powerful—it can highlight social flaws. But to us, there’s blind spot about food allergies to begin with, and this type of joke just magnifies it,” Lianne Mandelbaum, mom to a 19-year-old son with a deadly peanut allergy and founder of the advocacy nonprofit the No Nut Traveler, tells Fortune. (Greenfield, 5/21)

Iowa Public Radio: Midwest Weather: Humidity Could Be Bad For People's Health 
Factors as far away as the Caribbean Sea and as nearby as the cornfields of Iowa can bring on that muggy, sticky feeling. For people with certain health conditions, it’s more than an annoyance. (Edgell and Grundmeier, 5/21)

NPR: First FDA-Cleared Alzheimer’s Blood Test Set To Boost Diagnoses' Speed, Accuracy
A new blood test that detects a hallmark of Alzheimer's is poised to change the way doctors diagnose and treat the disease. The test, the first of its kind to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, is for people 55 and older who already have memory problems or other signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's. (Hamilton, 5/21)

MedPage Today: Link Between Viral Infection And Alzheimer's Emerges In New Data
People diagnosed with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the virus responsible for cold sores, were more likely to have a subsequent Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, an analysis of U.S. commercial insurance claims suggested. (George, 5/21)

ScienceDaily: Depression Linked To Physical Pain Years Later 
Middle-aged and older adults who experience pain are more likely to have had worsening symptoms of depression up to eight years before the pain began, according to a new study. (University College London, 5/20)

MedPage Today: MS Disability Progression May Vary By Race, Ethnicity
Racial and ethnic differences in the severity, prognosis, and mortality of multiple sclerosis (MS) have been the focus of intensifying research over the last decade, and emerging evidence suggests that Black and Hispanic MS patients have more disability risk than white patients. (Smyth, 5/21)

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Benefit From Early Antibiotics For Nonsevere COVID
A large observational study provides evidence that antibiotics provide no benefit for patients hospitalized with nonsevere COVID-19. (Dall, 5/21)

CIDRAP: Data Show Slight Increase In Menstrual Length After COVID Vaccines 
Investigators analyzing data on almost 2 million women participating in 17 studies observed a slight and transient increase in the length of menstruation after they received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a study published late last week in PLOS One. The authors said the study offers clarity on the topic. "Given the extensive reporting by the media on the topic, a continued lack of clarity can fuel further vaccine hesitancy, not just for COVID-19 vaccines but also more broadly with serious implication," they wrote. (Soucheray, 5/19)

Becker's Hospital Review: The Conditions That Double Women's Heart Disease Death Rate: 5 Study Notes
Women with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or systemic sclerosis were more than twice as likely to suffer a cardiovascular disease-related death compared to men with the same conditions between 1999 and 2020, according to a study published May 5 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “There is a common perception that people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases primarily die from infections or kidney disease,” Issam Motairek, MD, an internal medicine resident at Cleveland Clinic and the lead study author, said in a May 6 news release from the American Heart Association. (Gregerson, 5/20)

MedPage Today: Thyroid Storm Bumps Death Rate In Thyrotoxicosis 
Patients with thyrotoxicosis who developed thyroid storm died at nearly double the rate as those without thyroid storm, according to an analysis using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from 2016 to 2021. Among over 186,000 patients with thyrotoxicosis, age-adjusted mortality per 100,000 hospitalizations was 6,825 for patients who had thyroid storm compared with 3,601 for patients without, found Shehar Bano, MD, of AdventHealth Sebring in Florida. (Monaco, 5/18)

MedPage Today: Adding CT, Symptoms Improves COPD Diagnosis 
Incorporating chest CT imaging and respiratory symptoms into the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnostic schema improved identification of individuals with poor respiratory outcomes, two longitudinal cohorts showed. The schema newly classified 15.4% of persons without airflow obstruction as having COPD by minor diagnostic category, Surya P. Bhatt, MD, MSPH, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, reported at the American Thoracic Society annual meeting in San Francisco. (Phend, 5/18)

Bloomberg: Deadly Fungi Are Here, And They're Spreading
Fungal pathogens are the underdogs of the medical world — largely understudied and underfunded — partly because fatal disease most often occurs in immunocompromised populations or developing countries. The most common infections known to the public are minor — athlete’s foot, thrush, ringworm — and so the idea of a deadly fungus is limited to science fiction, such as the video game-turned-TV show The Last of Us. (Lara Williams, 5/22)

The New York Times: The Republican Plan To Bury Medicaid Users In Paperwork 
The proposed House bill reverses what has been a quiet revolution in Medicaid — making it easier for people who are eligible to obtain benefits. Over the past 15 years, reforms have included simplifying applications, eliminating confusing paperwork and automating processes, especially when it comes to renewing benefits. Surveys show that the public supports such service improvements. (Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moyniham, 5/22)

Bloomberg: Medicaid Work Requirements Can Save Money With Serious Reform
For weeks, Republicans in Congress have been haggling over cuts to Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor. Some lawmakers see an opportunity to offset the cost of extending $5 trillion in tax cuts, a priority for the White House. Others worry their constituents could lose access to critical care. (5/21)

The New York Times: Why Are So Many People Sure Covid Leaked From A Lab?
In April the Trump White House paved over the informational public health website Covid.gov with what can only be described as a splashy propaganda page. “LAB LEAK,” it shouted in large font at the top, movie-poster style, with Donald Trump’s image positioned between the enormous capital letters as an A-list star investigator. The tagline: “The true origins of Covid-19.” (David Wallace-Wells, 5/21)

The Washington Post: FDA's New Approach To Covid Vaccines Could Have Been Way Worse
When I heard that the Food and Drug Administration was announcing a new framework for coronavirus vaccine approval, I expected the worst. After all, the FDA answers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has called the coronavirus shots the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” Kennedy recently said he wants placebo testing for all new vaccines, stoking fear that this requirement would apply to updated covid shots and hinder their availability this fall. (Leana S. Wen, 5/21)

Stat: FDA Must Catch Up To Genetic Therapies For Young Children Like Baby KJ 
In 2018, my daughter, Mila, became the first person in the world to receive a medicine designed for one person, an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) called “milasen.” Last week, the world received the breaking news that a baby named KJ had received the first personalized CRISPR treatment — one that may save his life. Just as technology is revealing thousands of genetic conditions behind previously unexplained symptoms, Mila and KJ’s stories are proving an entirely new way of treating those who suffer from genetic disease. The new era of individualized medicines is here. (Julia Vitarello, 5/22)

The Baltimore Sun: The Takeaway From Biden's Prostate Cancer
It should come as no surprise that the recent revelation that former President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer drew a broad spectrum of reactions from the sympathetic to the scrutinizing. And perhaps that was best exemplified by President Donald Trump who in an Oval Office chat with reporters on Monday initially described the situation as “very sad” but then spoke of how it might have been diagnosed sooner and how “the same doctor” failed to document Biden’s cognitive decline. (5/21)